1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of mine detection and, in particular, to electromagnetic sub-surface mine detection.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC), there are approximately 110 million land mines scattered around the world in 64 countries. It is estimated that 26,000 people a year are victims of land mines. Great efforts have been made in clearing these mines. In doing so, for every 5000 mines cleared, an average of one mine clearer is killed.
Because of these startling statistics, constant research is underway to improve the techniques used to clear mines. There are a variety of technologies that are available for detecting mines. Some standard approaches to detecting mines (and also unexploded ordnance, “UXOs”) are ground penetrating radar (GPR), infrared (IR) thermal imaging quadrupole resonance sensors (QRS), electromagnetic induction (EMI), and neutron interrogation. However, new anti-personnel mines are being enclosed in plastic cases that are more difficult to locate and distinguish from rocks, roots, and other clutter using electromagnetic sensors than were the previously used metal cases.
Another common technique to locate mines is to generate synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery of the ground using an ultrawideband (UWB) radar of a plane or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). However, to obtain acceptable probabilities of detection, the detection threshold is typically set quite low, resulting in frequent false-positives.